


I'd Give It All

by hellaskye



Category: Black Widow (Comics), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, a lot of fluff, no powers au, vet au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 16:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11855181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellaskye/pseuds/hellaskye
Summary: "“When did you start working here?” Clint asked, somewhere between the aviary and the puppy kennel. Before she could answer, he continued. “You weren’t there when I picked up Lucky, right? We were in and out of the Clinic a bunch, and,” he paused to give her a teasing grin, “I woulda remembered you, Red.”Natasha resisted the urge to play with the ends of her ponytail at the reference to her hair. Contrary to the way that phrase normally sounded, the way he said it didn’t sound predatory or creepy - just curious. It was just a fact to him, and the nickname fell from his lips in such a way that it sounded familiar and friendly.Clint Barton was a strange man."ORthe Vet AU that turned into a 3k fic





	I'd Give It All

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SugarFey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugarFey/gifts).



> from the Be Compromised 2017 Promptathon, a prompt by Sugar_Fey: 
> 
> AU. Natasha is a vet at an animal shelter, Clint starts volunteering/working at the same shelter. 
> 
> I changed it a little to make her a vet technician instead of a vet, but i hope it still is what you were looking for!

“Hey Romanoff, we got an appointment you’ll like today,” Dr. Barnes called to his Vet Tech as she signed in. The redhead raised an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing as she strode to the break room to dump her bag. The break room was a shared facility for the staff of Stark Animal Shelter, and the connected Veterinary office, but Natasha wasn’t too worried about her stuff. Everyone who worked at the shelter was Good People, at least in Natasha’s book. Stark, for all his faults, wouldn’t hire anyone who wasn’t a good fit, and he was still hands-on in the hiring process, so Natasha slipped her phone into the pocket of her scrubs, clipped her ID to the badge holder and strolled back into the Vet wing. 

As Barnes was going on and on about the upcoming appointment with a cat that a family had just adopted, and how Tasha would just  _ love _ the cat, Pepper Potts walked into the office, looking as frazzled as usual. Considering that  _ she _ was really the one running her husband’s Animal Shelter  _ and  _ she had to deal with Stark himself, Natasha actually thought Pepper held it together pretty well. 

“Actually, James, I need to steal Ms. Romanoff, if that’s okay with you…?” Pepper broke off and looked at Natasha. Tasha’s eyes widened at the question. Nearly ten years after breaking out of the life Ivan had tried to steer her into, sometimes simple decisions caught her off guard and made Natasha feel like a deer in the headlights. 

“Uhh, if that’s okay with Dr. Barnes, that’s fine,” Tasha managed to get out, reminding herself to breathe. Behind her, James nodded, albeit giving the girls a curious look, and Pepper lead Natasha away, calling her gratitude to Barnes as they left. 

“Ms. Potts, can I ask  _ what  _ you needed me for?” Natasha piped up eventually. Pepper was a wonderful woman, and though she was typically too busy to socialise much, she had a sort of something about her that tended to put people at ease. Pepper was wonderful enough that Natasha was pretty sure she wouldn’t mind the question, and sure enough, Pepper wrung her hands and made an apologetic noise.

“Oh, of course, I’m so sorry!” Pepper clucked as they wound their way through the Shelter’s corridors. “We have a new staff member starting today, and Darcy called in sick, and Dr. Banner has told me on no uncertain terms that he  _ will not _ be dealing with anyone not covered in fur or feathers, for the next couple hours specifically.” 

Dr. Bruce Banner was the other doctor that worked in the vet offices with Barnes, and Natasha and the other vet techs, a friend of Barnes’s boyfriend named Sam, and a sweet girl named Wanda, whose brother worked in the Shelter as well. Banner was the meekest person Natasha had ever met, until he came across an abused animal. Then, his anger was  _ terrifying _ . Dr. Banner had lost his previous position as a doctor at a clinic after beating a client to a pulp when he found out the man was beating his puppy. Tony had snatched him up immediately, despite multiple protests from Bruce that he shouldn’t. Between Tony’s stubbornness, and Pepper’s assurances that his skills as a doctor were really what Stark was after, Bruce had become a valued Vet, but always tended to interact solely with the animals and the Shelter staff. 

“So, you tapped me to give the new volunteer their orientation?” Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow. It wasn’t that she was angry about being taken away from the clinic, just that she wouldn’t have been her own first choice when it came to charming new people. Natasha could be standoffish at most times, even when she liked someone, and she didn’t usually like people right away.  _ Wanda _ , who was skittish around new people and sometimes forgot to speak English, would’ve been better than Natasha. Pepper, however, didn’t seem to agree. She just nodded in response to Natasha’s incredulous question, saying something about ‘a good fit’ and opened the door that lead to the administrative offices. Natasha took a deep breath, but followed her in, smoothing her scrubs somewhat nervously. 

“Mr. Barton?” Pepper asked, a wide smile plastered on her face. The man sitting on the bench with a golden retriever splayed across his lap looked up and nodded. “Hi there, I’m Virginia Potts, the Shelter administrator, we spoke on the phone. Is this Lucky?”

“Yeah, this is him,” Barton stood, patting the golden retriever fondly. The dog seemed to grin, sliding off of Barton’s lap gracefully. 

“Mr. Barton adopted Lucky from this shelter, about six months ago,” Pepper was turning to Natasha and saying. “Lucky had to undergo extensive medical treatment after being abused and eventually hit by a car. They weren’t sure he’d make it, but he pulled through, hence-” 

“Lucky.” Natasha nodded. Six months ago, Tasha had been called up to court to testify, yet again, against her uncle, which would explain why she didn’t remember the dog. An ordeal like that would’ve warranted an emergency call, which would’ve pulled any vet tech and doctor on staff to assist. Natasha knelt to look the dog in it’s one eye and she scratched his ears. The dog did indeed look beat up - one eye, scars up and down his body -  but he smiled that doggy grin and wagged his tail. Tasha looked up to see an eerily similar grin on his owner.  _ Well you know what they say about dogs and their owners, i guess. _

“This is Natasha Romanoff, she’s a vet tech here at the Shelter, so she’ll be giving you your orientation,” Pepper told the man. He shrugged good-naturedly, still grinning. 

“Clint. Nice to meet you,” he said, holding out a bandaged hand. She took it gingerly, offering him a smile. 

“Nice to meet you,” she murmured back. Pepper went over a few last minute paperwork things with Clint, then she left in a whirl of strawberry blonde hair and strawberry scented perfume. Natasha sucked in another breath, then turned to Clint and Lucky.

“So - a tour?”

 

* * *

 

“When did you start working here?” Clint asked, somewhere between the aviary and the puppy kennel. Before she could answer, he continued. “You weren’t there when I picked up Lucky, right? We were in and out of the Clinic a bunch, and,” he paused to give her a teasing grin, “I woulda remembered you, Red.”

Natasha resisted the urge to play with the ends of her ponytail at the reference to her hair. Contrary to the way that phrase normally sounded, the way he said it didn’t sound predatory or creepy - just curious. It was just a fact to him, and the nickname fell from his lips in such a way that it sounded familiar and friendly. 

Clint Barton was a strange man. 

“I’ve been working here for almost two years now,” Natasha told him, only slightly rolling her eyes. Lucky trotted alongside her, only pausing to sniff at crates and say hi to different animals. “I had a...family emergency, of sorts, six months ago.”

He nodded, a look of understanding flashing across his face at the way she said  _ family emergency _ , and he opened his mouth to say something, but cut it off with a yelp as Lucky darted off to greet a parakeet that had gotten out of the aviary. Clint ended up tangled in Lucky’s leash, sitting on the ground as Lucky licked the bird, which had settled on Clint’s shoulder and was nuzzling his face. 

Natasha couldn’t help but laugh. 

 

* * *

 

Two weeks later, Natasha was taking her break in the breakroom, arguing with Steve, James’s long term boyfriend, about whether or not he needed to bake ‘thank-you cookies’ for his neighbor, who had watched their cat. 

“You’re already paying her!” Natasha said, giving him an incredulous stare. Steve made a frustrated noise that sounded vaguely like a choking elephant and shook his head.

“But it’s  _ still  _ a favor she did for us! I think the cookies are highly necessary,” Steve retorted for the 90th time. Behind him, Clint Barton had slipped into the break room, heading for the fridge and grabbing a water. He flashed her his trademark grin, and Natasha couldn’t help but smile back. Steve noticed and turned around, and Natasha suppressed a groan. Now Steve was gonna be teasing her about this all week. 

“Hey man, how’s it going?” Clint nodded at Steve, noticing the attention. Steve smiled and turned to him fully. 

“Pretty good - listen. If you were going somewhere, and had to get a neighbor to pet-sit, would you bake them cookies as a thank you?”

Natasha rolled her eyes and attempted to hit Steve, but the man was a brick wall, and a determined man. Clint seemed to actually be mulling it over scratching Lucky idly as he thought. 

“Well,” he said eventually, coming to sit on the couch next to Steve. “ _ I _ can’t bake for shit. But if I could, I’d bake her some, just to keep her happy. That way the next time I need a pet sitter, she’ll remember the cookies.” 

“ _ Exactly _ . You understand me, you’re staying. I’m Steve, my boyfriend works in the Clinic.”

“Oh, you’re Bucky’s Steve,” Clint lit up. Both Steve and Natasha looked at him inquisitively, and he shrugged self-consciously. Only close friends called Dr. Barnes ‘Bucky’. Clint coughed. “Barnes and I go to the same range. We talk. I’m Clint Barton.”

“ _ Oh _ , Barton-from-the-shooting-range, yeah I know who you are!” 

Natasha shook her head, a ghost of a smile flitting across her face as she got back to work.

 

* * *

 

“Natashalie!” Stark called out as she passed him on her way into the clinic one crisp October morning. Natasha was still wrapped in an oversized sweater, with leggings underneath, having been unable to convince herself to change into her scrubs in her frigid apartment. Her heating system had been cut off, due to the fact that she hadn’t paid the bill in a couple months. At least the clinic had heat, but now she was running a few minutes late, and she still had to change before her shift. 

“Stark, call me that again and I’ll disembowel you.” Natasha wasn’t sure when she’d stopped being afraid of Stark. It was probably when she’d realised that despite the title of ‘Director’ that Tony wore, and despite the fact the Shelter was named after him, it was Pepper who ran the show. Regardless of  _ when _ it was, the lack of fear was now empowering her to call the threat out to him as she continued walking into the clinic, and thankfully, Stark didn’t get upset, just followed her in.

“Natasha, then. Are you okay?” Stark was looking at her in concern, as she shivered and unwound her arms from around herself, letting the heat soak into her body. She just gave him a look, and moved to put her bag in the breakroom. Clint Barton was sitting inside, eating a banana, and he smiled at her. She mustered up a small smile back. She couldn’t explain why, but she felt like he deserved a smile back.

“I’m  _ fine _ , Stark. Just adjusting to the warmth,” she muttered, rummaging around in the bag for her scrubs. 

“What, after the half a minute walk from your car into the clinic?” Stark scoffed, leaning on a couch and fiddling with something. Stark was never idle, that much Natasha knew. 

“The heater in my car doesn’t work,” Natasha told him absently, now searching in earnest. Stark made a sympathetic noise. 

“Ooh, that sucks in this weather. Want me to fix it?” At Natasha’s head shake he shrugged. “Whatever. But still, you don’t live that far from the Shelter. You can’t have gotten  _ that _ cold.”

“My apartment doesn’t have heat either,” Natasha said,  _ finally _ finding the elusive scrubs. Utter silence followed her statement, and when Natasha straightened, both of the men in the room were staring at her, Stark in horror, Barton with something more searching. She shifted uncomfortably. “What? It’s fine. I don’t spend that much time in there anyways, and the rest of the building is heated, so it doesn’t get too cold.”

“ _ Natasha _ . I can help-” 

_ “No, _ ” Natasha pointed a finger at Stark sternly, heading for the door. “I need to go do  _ work _ now, but don’t you dare interfere, Stark. I’m an adult, I can handle my bills.”

She didn’t bother waiting for a response, heading for the staff bathroom to change, but when she reentered the breakroom Stark was gone. As she stashed her clothes in her bag, she started muttering about meddling Starks. She’d forgotten that Clint was still in the room until he started chuckling. 

“He’ll keep his money to himself,” Clint promised, standing up and stretching. The bottom of his shirt rode up, and for some reason, it made Natasha flush. “You scare him. You might get a big Christmas bonus, but hey, there could be worse fates.”

“I guess,” Natasha sighed, but she was smiling. Lucky came over, begging for a ear scratching, and she obliged. “How have you been fitting in?”

“Good! It’s great here,” Clint said, seemingly genuine. “Thor is the happiest man I’ve ever met, but it’s kinda nice to be around. Pietro is annoying, but he’s like a little brother.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Natasha said, surprised to find that she too, was being genuine. She’d never really bonded with the staff on the Shelter side of things, but Clint Barton had really wormed his way into her good graces. Maybe it was because she felt responsible for him, after giving him the orientation, maybe it was that  _ goddamn _ grin; whatever it was, it drew her to Clint like a moth to a light. 

“Hey Natasha, we have a client,” Wanda stuck her head into the breakroom. Nat nodded, and went to follow her out. 

“See you, Clint,” she said as she walked out. He raised a hand and flashed her that grin, walking out to the shelter with Lucky following faithfully. 

“He seems nice,” Wanda commented lightly as they made their way into the clinic. Normally, Wanda’s disinclination to get involved in her coworker’s personal lives was one of Natasha’s favorite things about her, but judging by the way Wanda was smirking at her, that particular virtue was missing from the young woman today. 

“He’s nice enough,” Natasha said firmly, going into an examination room and putting Clint out of her mind. She was busy enough; someone dropped off a dog with a broken leg, a parakeet had lead poisoning, and there was a cat who wouldn’t eat unless Natasha, and  _ only _ Natasha, hand fed him, for starters. By the time the end of the day rolled around, Tasha was practically asleep on her feet, and it was getting cold again. 

“Bye, Romanoff!” Barnes called from his office as Natasha passed by on her way to the breakroom. Natasha responded cheerfully enough, but her mind was preoccupied. If she changed back into her sweater  _ here,  _ maybe she’d be able to conserve some of the clinic’s heat on the way home. On the other hand, if she just sucked it up and changed at home, she’d probably acclimate to the cold faster. Sighing, Natasha made a beeline for her bag, stopping short when she noticed a bundle on top of it. 

Lying on top of her bag was a purple blanket, with a note. Running her hand over the soft material, she read quickly.

 

_ Natasha, _

_ I had some problems keeping the heat on myself, a couple years back. Heated blankets were a godsend, and I still had a few lying around that I wanted to get rid off. Thought you might appreciate one, and it saves me the trouble of a trip to Goodwill :) _

_ Clint _

 

She read the note once more, then let a small smile flit across her face, putting the blanket in her bag and going into the bathroom to change. Not only had Clint given her a heated blanket, he’d done it in a way that allowed her to save her dignity. 

Strange man indeed. 

 

* * *

 

The next time she saw him at work, she made sure to thank him for the blanket, and he brushed it off, saying she’d done  _ him _ a favor. Clint had solidly landed himself a spot in her good books. 

Not only was he kind, he was  _ so much  _ fun to be around, Natasha found out as the holidays approached. With the increased traffic for the holidays, Pepper started asking Natasha and Wanda to help Pietro and Clint in the shelter, and vice versa. Everyone at the shelter started working overtime to accommodate, but it wasn’t so bad. Pietro and Wanda started bringing different pastries from their home country of Sokovia, and Steve often stopped by with jugs of Starbucks. Most people ended up working their shifts in pairs, and more often than not, Natasha ended up with Clint. She found she didn’t mind at all. He was good company, always ready with a quip or a joke, and the duo were often seen laughing as they wandered through the animal enclosures, Lucky trailing behind, his tail wagging. 

“You’re lying,” Wanda was insisting when Natasha walked into the break room one morning. Wanda and Pietro were on one couch, facing Clint, who was sitting on the other, face earnest and eyes laughing. 

“I’m  _ not _ , I swear - Nat, come back me up here,” Clint called, seeing her look over to them. She sighed good naturedly, but made her way to lean on the back of Clint’s couch. 

“What am I backing up?” 

“That dumb bird in the aviary, the one that everyone was saying would be dead by Christmas? Clint is insisting it’s alright now.” Pietro snorted, eyeing his friend and coworker with a raised eyebrow. 

“Nat was there, she  _ saw it too _ ,” Clint shook his head impatiently, looking up at her expectantly. She gave him a smile and looked at the twins. 

“It’s true, I was there. He’s cured.” 

 

“When did you become  _ Nat _ ?” Wanda asked as they walked back to work a few minutes later. Her tone, though curious, held no teasing, and Natasha smiled genuinely. It was a good question. Her only nickname, at the clinic at least, was Tasha, and even that was reserved only for special moments. Despite Tony’s efforts to give her more monikers, he tended to drop them once she threatened his life, however jokingly the threat was delivered. With Clint, however...

“Would you believe me if I said I honestly didn’t know?” she asked, laughing. “He just started using it at some point, and I didn’t realize until much too late. I don’t mind it though. It’s kind of nice.”

 

* * *

 

She saw him next, not at work but at a bar after her shift, shortly after thanksgiving. She was drowning out her sorrows in a shady tavern in Bedford-Stuyvesant, but who was she to be picky? In two weeks she would pretty much be homeless anyway. 

She was so wrapped up in her mind that she didn’t recognize him as soon he slid onto the stool next to her. It took one of his trademark grins for her befuddled mind to catch up. 

“Oh - hey, what are you doing here?” Natasha raised an eyebrow. Other than the slightly slowed rate of thinking, she bore no signs of intoxication, and the slow mind was more due to the troubles that were driving her to drink than the alcohol itself. Next to her, Clint chuckled. 

“I live around here,” he informed her. As if to prove it, the bartender handed him a beer without a word. It was clearly some special brew, that was kept hidden behind the counter, and clearly Clint was indeed a regular here. “What are  _ you _ doing here? I’m here often enough that I know you’re not a regular.”

“Drinking my sorrows away,” Natasha snorted, her lips twisted wryly at her own candid confession. Normally, Natasha would’ve deflected the question deftly, but honestly, she just didn't have an excuse for him. He had those uncomfortably intense eyes and that grin that just held Natasha captive. She frowned at the bottom of her glass. Based on her own thoughts, maybe it was time to slow down on the vodka. 

“Still no heat at home?” Clint fished gently enough, but it was clear he knew it had become more than that.  _ Fuck it all to hell _ , Natasha thought, swiveling slightly on the stool to face him.  _ What have I got to lose by telling him at this point _ ?

“No apartment to go home to, anymore,” she said, bitterness creeping into her tone. “The landlord got an offer for the building, and the new company is raising rent to an incredibly unreasonable price. I have two weeks to find a new place.”

He had a gleam in his eye as he heard her out, and when she finished, he nodded slowly, clearly thinking something over. He eyed her carefully, then said:

“I know a cheap apartment building where you can stay.”

Natasha eyed him just as carefully. Clearly, he was trepidatious about something with this arrangement. He wouldn’t be the type to just pay rent for her, unless she asked him to; the whole blanket-gifting told her that he appreciated the need for dignity. She didn’t  _ think _ he’d be so forward as to offer his own apartment. Finally, after a full minute of silence, she raised an eyebrow again.

“But…?”

“I own it; I’m the landlord. It’s about a block from here, so not in the best neighborhood either,” Clint confessed in a rush. When she didn’t react, he elaborated. “I didn’t want you to think I would be cutting your rent, or giving you any sort of break I wouldn’t give any of my tenants. I just keep rent cheap ‘cause I  _ can _ . It’s close to the clinic, and everyone who lives in the building is good people. You don’t have to say yes, it’s just an option for you. So things don’t seem so bleak.”

Slowly, a small smile spread across Natasha’s face. An option, he’d said. Options had always been Natasha’s greatest blessing in life. When she got out of Ivan’s care, she’d had an option of staying in America or going back to Russia. When she’d aged out of the system, she’d had the option to start working at a entry level job, or wrangle her way into enough scholarships to complete the necessary education for a veterinary technician’s degree. After living a life with no options, every option still seemed like a blessing ten years later.  _ Especially _ this one. And Clint Barton, with his roguish charm and kind eyes, was a blessing in and of himself. Why on earth would she say no to an offer like this?

“Let’s talk.”

 

* * *

 

“I heard you’re moving in with the new-ish guy,” Tony said as she entered the break room a few days later. Natasha stopped cold in her tracks, turning to glare at Tony. She would’ve never thought of Clint as the type to twist a situation like this, for his advantage or for a bit of fun, but if  _ that _ was what he was telling people, she was going to have to rethink a few things. Tony, noting her fury, raised his hands placatingly. “Easy, Anastasia, I overheard him talking on the phone about it. He didn’t gossip - he wouldn’t do that. Not to you.”

“I’m renting an apartment in his building,” Natasha clarified, still glaring, but no longer stalking towards him like a cat on her prey, lithe and deadly. She decided to ignore the last part of his statement entirely, unsure  _ what  _ to make of it. ‘ _ Not to you’ _ ? “I’m a tenant. We’re not -”

“ _ Oh _ , yeah, no that’s what I meant, I swear to God,” the look of realization on Tony’s face is almost comical, and he tries to disappear into the cushions of the break room couch. “I didn’t mean cohabitation. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“I also hope you die, Stark,” Natasha muttered, walking out of the break room to start her shift. The words are biting, but not angry, and it made Tony smile.

“It’s her way of saying she loves me,” Tony insisted to a disbelieving Bruce. 

 

* * *

 

“That’s the last of it,” Clint huffed, a week later, putting a box inside the door of her new apartment. Natasha absentmindedly murmured her thanks, eyeing the kitchen critically. The apartment was small, but it had heat, and the rent was more than reasonable, and so far, all of the tenants she’d talked to had nothing but good words to say about their landlord. Who had insisted on helping her move in, and was now leaning in the doorway, panting slightly. Finished with her mental plans for the space, she turned to give him a smile. 

“I owe you pizza or something,” she said firmly, opening a box. She didn’t have too much stuff, most of it had fit into six or seven boxes. Now, the trick was going to be figuring out  _ what  _ was in  _ which _ box. 

“Save the pizza for the rest of the gang,” Clint said, his voice sounding a little funny, like he was on edge. Natasha was too busy trying to find her kitchenware to do anything to acknowledge it. The rest of their coworkers at the shelter were coming over in five minutes to help her unpack, and she’d promised them pizza and beer in return for the favor. 

“Well, I owe you  _ something _ ,” Natasha insisted, still trying to figure out where the  _ fuck _ her plates were. She’s distracted enough that she almost missed Clint’s quiet response.

“Something like a date?” 

Natasha froze, turning slowly to face him where he stood, giving her that charming grin. She stared at him, trying to determine that he was indeed serious before saying:

“You want to go on a date with me?”

He raised an eyebrow at the clarification, but nodded, eyeing her warily as she drew closer to him. It wasn’t that she hadn’t considered the possibility of taking her friendship with Clint to something more, but she’d dismissed it and moved on. Now, however, she thought of all the hours of laughter and stories and childish antics, both at the Shelter and elsewhere. 

“Nat, if you don’t want to-”

Natasha closed the distance between them, pressing her lips to his and effectively shutting him up. 

“I’d love to,” she whispered when their lips parted, though neither of them drew away. He grinned against her lips, and started to say something, when a startled  _ ‘oh shit’ _ caused them both to jump back. Standing in the open doorway was a dark-haired teenager, who was holding Lucky on a leash and staring at the two adults wide-eyed. 

“Nat, this is Kate Bishop, the little sister I never wanted,” Clint sighed, though he was clearly happy to see the girl. “Kate,  -”

“ _ Finally _ ,” the girl recovered quickly, bounding into the room and letting Lucky loose before tossing Natasha a smile. “You’re the infamous ‘Nat’, then? Maybe now he can stop talking to me about how great you are and just say it to your face.”

Natasha choked out a surprised laugh, turning a raised eyebrow to Clint, who had gone a nice shade of red and was glaring at the teen. Kate waved with a smile, and turned on her heel and left. Clint made to follow her, muttering about ‘ _ teenaged brats’ _ , and ‘ _ spoiled six-year-olds _ ’ but Natasha caught his arm still laughing. He gave her a pained look.

“She exaggerates,” he said immediately, shaking his head. “This is payback because I embarrassed her in front of her girlfriend.”

“Aw, you think I’m great, Barton?” she asked, teasing him with a grin. The others would get to her apartment soon, and Tony would be insufferable about this whole new  _ thing _ , even with Pepper there to scold him, and Wanda would give her a knowing look, and James and Steve would make a fuss about how cute they were, but for now? Standing here with Clint in her new apartment? Natasha was happy. Clint grinned at her. 

“I think you’re pretty spectacular.”

**Author's Note:**

> yo so this was a prompt fill for the Be Compromised Promptathon for 2017! My friend is an actual vet tech so I absolutely had to fill the prompt. Thanks Sugar_Fey!!
> 
> If anyone is interested in another chapter of this, or just more from this universe, just drop me a comment! I have another AU that is in progress rn, but if there's interest, I'll do both :) lemme know!


End file.
